


What happened the first time

by HolyMaiden24



Category: Captain Underpants Series - Dav Pilkey, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants (Cartoon)
Genre: Character Death, Gen, a look at the implications of a certain line, also takes inspiration from a rather dark theory, considering having this be rated teen on fan fiction dot net, contains a spoiler for the season 2 finale, it's not completely depressing though, might not be safe for a kid to read, missing child, read on to find out why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 13:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18344927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolyMaiden24/pseuds/HolyMaiden24
Summary: What if it truly DID happen the first time around? What consequences would there be from that one choice? Inspired by one rather dark implication from the season 2 finale. (HEAVY SPOILERS from season 2 of TetoCU) (Rated Teen because I felt like the subject matter might be dark for the traditional young audience).





	What happened the first time

**Author's Note:**

> Note–while most of the content can be regarded as kid friendly, I wasn’t sure if the idea of a child planning to commit a murder and seeing into that mindset was a friendly plot point for the younger readers. It’s not just an implication and a possibility–here it straight up happens. And yes, I regard that as even more messed up than the darkness I’ve touched upon in previous CU fics (especially with what happened in the Tangled AU, but that was something that happened in the original version, which was a KIDS film).  
> And in a time where the internet can have a powerful influence on the minds of kids, I didn’t want to risk having something that could realistically happen at that age be read by a child of the same age.  
> And honestly, if anyone felt the need to lash out the way Melvin did, I would highly advise to get help and talk to someone.  
> Anyway, so this is a look at the implication of Melvinborg having basically killed George and Harold in his timeline. Though if you’ve been following me on a certain other site, you’ll know that I heavily believe that there could have been one more person who died in that timeline, thanks to some heavy theorizing and handfuls of evidence.

It didn’t matter what the circumstances that lead to the exact moment the first time around were. What mattered was that it happened because one boy followed through on an impulse when there was nothing to convince him out of it. What motivated him to do it was because he saw an opportunity. 

It was no secret that Melvin hated George and Harold. Not just because of the disruptions or immature antics, not just because of the pranks that caused distractions or because they liked messing around with his things. Not because he couldn’t stand their sense of humor or get it at times. 

It was more than that. 

Despite being hated by most of the staff–especially their principal who was even more so open about it–George and Harold were loved amongst their classmates. Their ridiculous antics somehow made them heroes in their eyes instead of interferences in their education. No matter how many impressive inventions Melvin would make, it seemed that the others only had eyes for those stupid comic books no matter how much body humor or bad spelling was within their pages. The two managed to impress and win every child over from the smallest kindergardener who’s soul had not yet been crushed by the school’s system to the sixth graders who were eager to leave, yet were relived to know that the younger kids would be able to endure their years thanks to the two boys. 

George and Harold always seemed to get everything that they wanted and more almost without even trying, while he had so struggle to prove himself in order to achieve his goals, including getting into a better school that was more to his level. 

To leave them trapped within the mind of their beloved superhero felt like some sort of hilarious poetic justice. 

So Melvin took off while they were distracted with trying to save their friend. Never once did he look back from the moment he took his first step to the moment he was finally outside and could hurry back to the school. Never once did the thought occur to him that he was being too harsh with this decision, or that perhaps someone would notice after awhile. 

Perhaps it was only sometime later that he began to have second thoughts–maybe what he did was going too far. Maybe he really did leave them to die. Maybe–

In a state of panic, he tried to seek out Captain Underpants. Maybe there was a way to get them out of him and then the worst he would have to endure was a huge prank and maybe another stolen invention. But that was the problem–he couldn’t find Captain Underpants. 

He tried to pass it off oh so casually when he asked the others, such as Erica if they had seen the superhero, but they didn’t really know–they either admitted as such, gave him a strange look and refused to say anything, or else sprouted theories as to how the boys could have brought Captain Underpants to life, from finding a life granting fairy to one of their comic books getting stuck in radioactive waste (all of which were stupid and highly unlikely in his personal opinion). 

He started having nightmares–that George and Harold would show up on his doorstep with the cops ready to arrest him. That the next time the flying buffoon would show his face, the two would burst out of his skull like in that Greek myth about the Goddess of Wisdom. That the hero would figure it out and be ready to deliver a punishment worse than any wedgie he had suffered by an angry student or bully. That the two boys could come before him as decaying, rotting zombies ready to eat his highly valued brain. 

But they never came. Nothing happened. Captain Underpants was nowhere to be found. 

As the days passed and there was no sign of either George and Harold, Melvin began to accept it–even welcomed it. It was probably for the best–everything was a lot more peaceful, everything was on track, there were no distractions, the staff was a lot happier–it made things easier to accept and forget. 

Things were better without George and Harold, he told himself. 

Well, they would be a lot better if he could finally get into his dream school and out of this hive of simpletons. 

*****

The staff did’t notice something was wrong when George and Harold don’t show up for several days in a row. To them it only meant days of pure, prank free, no nonsense bliss that could go on uninterrupted. They made it very much clear in their smug smiles and their smug eyes when each day passed without any pranks or tricks involved. 

The children noticed though. The boys would never miss so many days of school in a row like this, even if they hated it. The two thrived not only on causing pranks around the school, but to entertain their fellow students with their sense of humor and their comic books. Their pranks made school unpredictable and fun while their comics gave the children something new to look forward to at school when everything else was always a let-down. In fact, some kids would later swear it was as if Captain Underpants himself vanished with the two when there were no more of his comics. While the teachers enjoyed their peace, the kids quietly whispered and wondered “Where on earth did George and Harold go?” 

George and Harold’s parents certainly noticed. You never miss it if your child suddenly doesn’t come home and isn’t anywhere to be found–not at their best friend’s house and not even in the treehouse. They knew the boys had a tendency to wander off, but when they had to resort to calling the cops and start asking the staff at school, it was a huge warning sign that something was very wrong. Compared to the reported incidents of monsters and power hungry adults attacking the school, this was far worse. 

As expected, none of the staff knew, nor did they care when the parents started asking questions. Especially not a certain principal who was asked the most questions and responded with the increasing annoyance that “No, for the last time, I don’t know where your kids went! They probably went off to pull another one of their pranks somewhere and got lost!” 

In translation, those words might as well have been “I don’t know, I honestly don’t care, and I swear if those two vanishing during school ruins my career, I’ll make them pay big time the next time I see them again.” 

Despite the nagging feeling in the back of his mind–the small voice that was buried deep under the layers of spiteful anger screaming at him to try to help because this wasn’t right–he ignored it and just continued on with work when the angry parents slammed the door shut. He didn’t care. Really he didn’t–why should he if this was something they probably bought upon themselves? They raised two troublemakers and didn’t seem to care enough to get them to stop. This might as well have been a wake up sign for them. 

Yet the nagging feeling kept coming, as if something within him was trying to break free. As if something deep down within was furious at himself and wanted him to try to find the boys. It was something that shocked and repulsed him all at once. He had to tell himself that he didn’t care–the boys gave him nothing to make him care enough beyond worrying that the worst case scenario could get him fired. The more that nagging feeling got stronger, the more he had to force it down. 

Yet the students and parents didn’t know how close they were to the boys. Krupp didn’t know just how insanely close by the boys were nearby to him. 

But by then it was already too late. They just didn’t know it. They might never know it at all. 

*****

It would be a matter of time until Krupp would hear a finger snap and Captain Underpants would come out. Except this time the boys he was so used to seeing wouldn’t be there to greet him and explain what was going on. 

While Captain Underpants was not smart, he wasn’t stupid when it came to the boys’ safety. He instantly knew something was very wrong–only in very rare cases would they never instantly be there whenever he found himself wearing clothing again. 

So he began to search for them–high and low, from the highest mountains of Piqua to even its sewers, with no rest to spare. 

Then he’d start asking questions. 

The children of Piqua knew he’d eventually come with questions even before he came to them. Asking for the whereabouts of George and Harold and were they sick at home or did they leave Piqua? They all were more willing to help him than when Melvin was asking around, but all of them said that they had no clue where they were and not even their parents knew. 

They knew in his frantic voice and in his terrified, yet exhausted eyes that he was not going to stop looking for them and would not stop for anything else. He was the only adult besides George and Harold’s parents that they knew who truly cared about them when others regarded them as trouble. He was nothing like their teachers or Principal Krupp who didn’t seem to want to get anywhere involved with this disappearance. 

It was only a matter of time until he finally confronted Melvin. 

The boy had forgotten completely about Captain Underpants by that point. He should have known better, but he just assumed (even hoped) the man would be too stupid to pick up on it. 

Of course, the overgrown fool begged and pleaded for anything in regards to George and Harold’s whereabouts. He was like an annoying fly who couldn’t go away. 

But by this point it had to be too late. 

If only he knew just how close he was to the truth. 

That’s when a terrible thought struck Melvin. 

Captain Underpants saw him as the last person to be with the boys besides himself. 

He’d find out sooner or later what actually happened and who caused it. The man was stupid, but he might accidentally reveal something to another. This idiot was going to ruin his future if he ended up in jail or worse have his education and chances of getting into the best schools of the world tarnished if he was able to reveal to the authorities who was responsible for George and Harold’s disappearance. 

There was no other option–Captain Underpants had to go. 

So Melvin smiled and told the hero to wait–maybe there was something he found that could be of use. Just sit tight and wait. 

_Wait for your demise to come close._

Two hours later, a robot would go on a rampage in the city. A robot of his own making. 

The boy lied with just the right amount of false panic and alarm to the waistband warrior, claiming that the robot was the one responsible for capturing George and Harold. 

It was the smile of relief on Captain Underpants’ otherwise exhausted face that erased any reservations for Melvin. 

How could any adult like George and Harold so much when all they did was cause trouble? How could such an adult have that much love in their eyes and smile in relief over those two nitwits?! Why did it tick him off so much?! How could this man be so utterly stupid beyond belief and yet be so persistent when it came to protecting and saving them?! What did they do for him to show that much love back?! How could an adult love those two as if they were his own? As if they wouldn’t cause him grief to no end? 

(There was something more to it, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Something about the affection in that smile and those eyes within that face was wrong and almost made him jealous, but he had no idea why.) 

When Captain Underpants flew off to face the robot, Melvin was ready with the remote. 

There would be no body. No evidence. Nothing to trace back to him, especially once the robot would self destruct later on. Captain Underpants had lost so much sleep looking for the boys that he was barely alert and kind of sluggish. It was going to be easy to do. 

No one would miss Captain Underpants enough to be looking for him too. Nothing would change without him. The world would be saner and better off without the idiot. 

Once he had the hero right where he wanted him to–barely standing, badly injured, too weakened to fly away and land one more punch–he pressed the button to give the command. There was no hesitation–he let gravity and muscle control and much determination make the finger press the button to seal the superhero’s fate. 

There was a bright flash of light. 

It happened so fast. 

There wasn’t even a scream. 

Then it faded. 

There was nothing to trace back to him. 

What he did didn’t faze him. Especially after the first time. 

(He didn’t believe in religion as a man of science, nor was he ever raised on it. To him both the boys and their hero were completely erased from existence and now lived on as memories. They couldn’t bother him any more.) 

Because it happened right before summer started, the children not only realized that their beloved hero had gone missing, but it also came as a complete shock when they heard that their principal also vanished. While they worried for George and Harold (the missing posters still hanging around Piqua wherever you looked) and prayed that Captain Underpants was still out there trying to look for the boys, they made their joy over the loss of the much hated principal well known and celebrated under the belief that their childhoods would no longer have to be so horrible. He left nothing behind that was worth mourning over or which could invoke fond memories of him. In years to come, he would be nothing but a bad memory for them to mock and curse for one reason or another. When a new–better-principal would come in the following year, it would be the best thing that ever happened in their school years. 

He was a man not worth loving. Not like Captain Underpants. 

If only they knew the truth. 

*****

Within the Beard and Hutchins’ households, both families refused to give up looking. They wanted the truth. They wanted answers. They wanted to know why their sons’ superhero turned out to be very much real, only for him to suffer a horrific fate. Did he know where their sons went? 

Both George’s mother and father and Harold’s mother suffered with each day of not knowing. So long as the missing posters were still up, so long as the phones didn’t ring with news of their boys’ return, so long as they had to wonder how it was that Captain Underpants became real, only to vanish alongside their boys, they couldn’t know peace. 

They didn’t notice Heidi entering the treehouse one day as they tried to learn the truth. 

The small child quietly took in the sanctuary of George and Harold. She herself didn’t get too many chances to come up in here, but they always played with her and she got to draw alongside her brother when she was invited. 

She picked up the comics of Captain Underpants that were still there. Though she was still learning to read, she could pick up a few words and her brother’s pictures were enough to tell the stories for her. She spent so much time looking at them that she got sucked in and lost track of time. 

Eventually inspiration took over. She grabbed some blank paper and started drawing out her own Captain Underpants comic. It wouldn’t be as perfect as George and Harold’s, but they would have something to look forward to when they would come home. 

She unknowingly started a new era of Tree House Comix Inc. She would carry on the legacy of George and Harold’s creation–Captain Underpants, as well as the memory of the two boys, was going to live on through her. And in the tree house, there was a welcoming atmosphere, like that of approval from her brother and his best friend for what was to come. 

*****

In the world beyond the living, Gabe stared down at the soul he was assigned to look over for a very unusual case. 

The man was kneeling on the floor, hands still covering his face (the tears long since dried on his cheeks), and he was still wearing the unusual superhero attire. He seemed so completely, utterly broken. 

Gabe understood full well how the other angels were conflicted about this particular soul. This man had committed acts of cruelty and misery towards children out of a spiteful bitterness that would not leave his heart no matter what could be done to fix it. Yet his other self–the hero–committed so many good deeds and inspired so much more, that it was hard to judge him and easily place him where he had to be. This was a man who was both hated and loved all at once–who now knew what it truly meant to both love and hate another with all of his heart, only for the reasons to be one and the same–and it was too much for him to take in now that he finally knew the truth. 

Gabe wasn’t sure if the man before him was Benjamin Krupp or Captain Underpants. Heaven had a way of making you recover memories of things you forgot, especially if you lost them be it through old age or something else. Like hypnotism. 

“Hey, are you alright?” Gabe knelt beside the man. “Look, I know it’s a lot to take in, but none of this was supposed to happen. You weren’t supposed to die like–” 

“This was my fault. Wasn’t it?” 

It was like his voice was alternating between the personalities each time he opened his mouth, making it harder for the angel to figure out who was really before him. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” Gabe tried to gently reassure him. 

“No it is! I could have done something different!” He looked up with eyes that were reddened from crying and they reminded the angel of a child who was completely lost and needed to find the way back home. “I could have saved them! I could have prevented this from happening! I could of–I could of–!” He struggled to breathe as he grabbed his head. “Am I really a bad guy?! No wait don’t say it!” He protested and moaned. “I know–I remember–I–!” 

The words haunt him– _“Boys, I despise you with every fiber of my being!”_ –he said those words–they repulsed him and filled him with regret now– 

– _”I never felt truly loved!”_ – He didn’t. He never felt like anyone really cared about him. When his mom failed him, there was no one else who cared enough to try to help him change his ways or show genuine kindness. Maybe if someone did all those years ago–maybe if there was someone he had trusted– “No one ever really... no one except–” 

_“We love you!”_ The young voice rung loud and clear in his head. It was both directed to him and yet not–but– 

“You aren’t a bad person.” Gabe gently placed his hands on the man’s shoulders. “No one is truly a shade of pure white. You were dealt a second chance in a way none of us saw coming, and it saved your soul in the nick of time.” 

“But it wasn’t me!” The man protested in frustration. “That wasn’t me who–I didn’t–I don’t even know who I am anymore.” He confessed as the terror in his shaking voice made it evident. “I know I shouldn’t be here! All I know is that.... I feel awful... I should have known–I just want to say I’m sorry, but I don’t know what for!” 

Gabe smiled. “Well that’s the thing about the afterlife. We are no longer bound to physical or mental limitations. We can choose who we want to be. You can be who you feel the most happy as–your truest self, whoever they may be.” Gabe grabbed his robe and gently tugged it away from his upper body. “Me? I chose to still keep my scars so that I won’t forget what I went through.” 

He saw the man stare in shock at them–the crescent shaped scars right under his chest. 

“I won’t judge you for who you want to be.” Gabe let go of the robe and stood up. “This time around, you get to chose what identity you want. You have nothing to hold you back anymore–you can be free to finally let go.” He watched as the man appeared to look hopeful and yet so lost at the same time. “Besides, they spoke on your behalf.” 

“They?” The man shot him a confused look and Gabe couldn’t help but smile as he turned to the gate. “Alright, I think you can come out now.” He said to it–or to be more precise, who was hiding around it, listening in the whole time. 

Slowly, from around the corner of the gate appeared two young boys who shot hopeful, yet nervous looks at the man beside Gabe. The moment the man locked eyes with them, Gabe saw it–the complete disbelief as well as the recognition. 

“George? Harold?” 

It was in the way that he said the names–the lack of anger and annoyance, but instead only genuine surprise as well as a little hope. It’s in the way they come out in that voice–not gruff and unpleasant, not loud and energetic, but smooth and calm as if it finally settled on a middle ground. 

Then George and Harold just gave the man huge, happy smiles and raced out with arms wide open. They laughed as they reached him and practically tackled him with their embraces. 

“We missed you!” Harold told the adult as he hugged him as hard as he could. 

“We weren’t going to lose you!” George told the man as he also hugged him. “We made sure to tell them everything so that you’d get to go up and not have to be miserable forever!” 

“Thanks for trying to find us and not giving up!” 

“Yeah! Even if it meant you had to die too, we really appreciated that you at least tried!” 

The man was still in shock, but it all settled in for him–his boys were here with him again. 

He no longer had to be bound to the anger or limitations of the hypnotism anymore. What he was feeling as the two hugged him was not a fabrication or trick–somehow, it felt real. It felt more real than anything he could of felt in a long time. 

“Um, look, about the hypnotism thing.” George shared a scared look with Harold as they realized that they had to own up to what they did. “What we did–” 

Captain Underpants–Benjamin–it didn’t matter anymore–didn’t car when he broke down in tears as he let out a relieved laugh and hugged him back. “I missed you guys so much!” He tightened his hold and buried his head between their shoulders. “I finally found you!” 

It was all that was needed for the boys to finally stop being afraid and to return the hug back. 

Gabe watched as the two boys buried themselves into the adult as long as they could. 

Eventually both George and Harold each took their friend’s hands and pulled him towards the realm beyond the gates as they told him about all the amazing things that could be found up above. All the while he gave them a happy, yet curious smile. 

“Enjoy this while it lasts.” Gabe quietly told them out of earshot. “My boss is going to have the timeline fixed, you’ll eventually get to go back to life, and you will forget about all of this. But at least this time your superhero gets to be with you forever and never has to get erased.” He smiled and made his way after them. As he passed though the gates, he noticed something that made him raise an eyebrow. He was sure that the sign by the gate said _‘Angels–when newcomers enter Heaven, please greet them gently.‘_

It now said _‘Great Angels pee warmly here.’_

Gabe laughed his head off and it took him a few moments before he could continue on his way. Heaven was going to be a lot more interesting for quite awhile. 

*****

She didn’t know what compelled her to see her old elementary school classmate after so many years. She was busy running an entire planet as its president and was trying to maintain peace between many countries. She didn’t have time for this. 

Yet it’s was as if a voice and a tap on her shoulder compelled her to go see Melvin. It was twenty years or more since she saw the haughty genius in her elementary school years. She didn’t know what to expect beyond that he was a genius inventor who recently got into some form of an accident that destroyed half of his body. She didn’t expect the maps and charts involving faces and locations and theories tied to their childhood. She didn’t expect the yearbook with two faces slashed up–the faces of the two boys who vanished without a trace that fateful year. She didn’t expect the blueprints for the time machine lazily left behind. 

She did what she did best and gathered up whatever information that she could. What she concluded was not promising. 

For whatever reason, Melvin Sneedly was going back to the past–back to when they were all fourth graders who had little to worry about beyond surviving another school year. 

Back to when George Beard and Harold Hutchins were still around. Back to when Captain Underpants and all the bad guys he fought somehow came to life to the awe and shock of the children, like a child’s version of Pygmalion and Galatea. 

(Except she knew the truth about Captain Underpants. She always had her suspicions and while other kids could only see a grown man flying around in a cape and underwear, she was able to recognize his features no matter how much they changed. She never dared say a word because of the danger and because it amused her). 

Eric understood what Melvin was going to do. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but she knew it would not be good. To meddle with time was to ruin the present, and there was too much at stake for everyone and for her for everything that she had painstakingly achieved. 

But maybe... just maybe... 

Maybe she could go after him and prevent things from getting too out of hand. Maybe she could fix whatever mess he was going to cause without interfering too much. 

As she snatched the blueprints for the time machine up and walked away with every intent to build her own, she had a strange feeling. Like she was helping two certain pranksters out with whatever scheme they were going to come up with. She could almost hear their excited laughter and their eagerness to pull off one rather amusing, promising prank. 

She always was fond of those two and Captain Underpants amused her both on the pages and in the flesh and blood. 

It would be nice to go back to the childish chaos once more. 

Erica walked onward, not realizing she was going to help correct something that was not supposed to be. 


End file.
